After making a passing remark recently about the fact teachers work a ten-month year, I got a small flood of emails from displeased educators. The theme was the same: we work hard. People don’t appreciate all the extra duties we perform. Teaching is a tough job.

I happen to know this to be true. Most Canadians haven’t the faintest clue how much more is demanded of teachers beyond mere classroom time. Entire ranks of supervisors, politicians and bureaucrats exist solely to dream up more duties to demand of them (since parents are evidently no longer capable of raising children).

Nonetheless, they’re fighting a losing battle. Working for the public is probably less fun than it’s ever been. After a year of resistance, B.C. teachers reluctantly accepted a contract this week that gave them next to none of their demands. The union argued it didn’t have a choice, since the province was likely to impose the contract anyway.

Ontario teachers are in the same boat, as are doctors. One wing of the Ontario medical industry has begun running radio ads accusing the province of planning to impose “U.S.-style health care” on an unsuspecting population, which seems a bit suspect considering this week’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare – which Republicans denounce as Canadian-style socialism.

The Ottawa Citizen reports that almost 50% of disability claims by public servants last year were for mental illness. That follows an earlier report indicating federal employees take double the number of sick days as those in the private sector, and that on any given day 19,000 bureaucrats are off the job on some kind of medical leave. Working for the government, it seems, not only makes you sick but drives you crazy.

The tendency is to blame the nasty Tories. Some Canada Revenue Agency workers who wore “Harper Hates Me” buttons to work, and were told to remove them, are reportedly filing a grievance through the Public Service Alliance of Canada. The union sees nothing wrong with the buttons.

“We think it pretty well summed it up – Stephen Harper hates public servants and there were buttons created,” Robert Campbell, president of the Union of Taxation Employees, told the CBC. A few days ago there was a similar complaint after Parks Canada employees received a letter suggesting they keep their political opinions to themselves while on the job (the government says it had nothing to do with the letter).

So, according to employees on the federal and provincial payrolls, they are under siege, underappreciated, plagued by a government that despises them and a public that doesn’t care. The pressure is so bad it’s making them physically and mentally ill.

It’s a good story, but perhaps not entirely accurate. Even if the federal government gets rid of 19,000 employees as planned, there will still be tens of thousands more bureaucrats on the payroll than when the Harper Tories took office, and they’ll be spending near-record amounts. Ontario’s government is battling merely to temporarily halt the exponential growth it sponsored over its first eight years. None of the federal or provincial governments are contemplating reductions in the same league as those imposed by the Chretien Liberals in the 1990s.

The problem seems to be more a matter of mind set. This morning’s headline announced that Research in Motion Ltd., until recently the darling of Canadian technology, would cut another 5,000 jobs as it tries to staunch losses and save $1 billion in costs. That’s on top of 2,000 cuts previously announced. Together they add up to more than a third the total contemplated for Ottawa’s civil servants. RIM employs about 16,500 people, compared to 282,000 by Ottawa, so the bloodshed at the Waterloo Ont. firm is far more serious than anything undertaken by a Canadian government.

No one at RIM is accusing the company of picking on them. So far there are no reports of employees wearing “RIM hates me” buttons. There are no doubt many employees disgusted that the company managed to so badly bungle the elite position it enjoyed just a few years ago, and angry at corporate decisions that have so harshly impacted on employees who worked their hearts out on its behalf. It’s not fair in any sense of the word, but it’s reality, and RIM is just one of many private sector companies forced to struggle for its life since the world economy fell off a cliff in 2008.

The difference is that public employees have little experience with such harsh realities and are accustomed to being shielded. Now that the protective barrier is weakening somewhat, they feel they’ve been treated unjustly. The fact is they’re simply being exposed to some of the pressures and risks that are part of everyday life for most Canadian workers. Odds are it won’t last long: one day the economy will be strong again, and the easy life of safe government jobs and big pensions will return. Until then, it’s almost as if government workers were just like everyone else.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.